Yamal LNG debt service guarantees removed

Russia’s largest independent natural gas producer Novatek has reached another milestone on its Yamal LNG project.

The company noted on Thursday, it has fulfilled all the conditions stipulated by the project’s external bank financing.

With the fulfillment, the debt guarantees of Yamal LNG were formally removed from Novatek.

“We have reached another significant milestone on Yamal LNG with the removal of the guarantees relating to the project’s financing,” Novatek’s chairman Leonid Mikhelson said.

“The removal of the guarantees will allow Novatek to attract external financing for its new projects on more favorable terms, and equally important removes the restrictions on our dividend payout ratio,” he added.

Yamal LNG is building a 17.4 million tonnes per year LNG export plant comprising of three LNG trains of 5.5 mtpa each and one LNG train of 900,000 tons per year.

The first LNG train began production in the fourth quarter of 2017, while trains 2 and 3 were launched in July 2018 and November 2018, respectively.

Yamal LNG shareholders include Novatek (50.1%), France’s Total (20%), China’s CNPC (20%), and the Silk Road Fund (9.9%).